1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to umbrellas and, more particularly, to novel and improved constructions for umbrellas.
2. Description of the Related Art
While the umbrella has well-known utility, the current state of the art is imperfect and would benefit from improvements in a number of respects. It may be noted that different types of umbrellas suffer to some extent from different problems. Thus, it will be convenient at the outset to distinguish two basic kinds of umbrellas.
The terms “personal” or “portable,” as used herein, refer to umbrellas that are designed to shelter a single individual and to be carried about by an individual. Accordingly, such umbrellas are optimally lightweight, compact when closed, and convenient (easy and quick) to open and close. These umbrellas are generally available in a range of sizes (e.g., oversized, full size, compact or travel size, and mini). In contrast to personal or portable umbrellas, the term “large-scale” or “stationary” will be used herein to refer to umbrellas designed to shelter more than one individual and to be fixed in place when in use (i.e., to provide protection from the sun, rain, etc.), although they may be portable when not in use. (In contrast, personal umbrellas are designed to be able to be used both while the user is in place and while the user is moving.) The intended use of large-scale umbrellas requires them to be much larger, heavier and stronger than personal umbrellas. Consequently, as a rule they are less convenient—i.e., they require more effort and time to open and close—than personal umbrellas. Common examples of large-scale umbrellas are beach umbrellas and table umbrellas, the latter being generally affixed at the center of a table, such as an outdoor café table or a home picnic table, for sheltering those seated at the table. While personal umbrellas are generally used to protect against the rain, large-scale umbrellas are commonly used to protect against the sun. The present invention is intended to be applicable to all kinds of umbrellas, including personal umbrellas, large-scale umbrellas and any other kind of umbrella.
One of the basic problems from which the umbrella suffers, in particular the personal umbrella, is durability. Durability of the umbrella may be conceived of as encompassing both short-term and long-term aspects. Here, short-term durability is meant to refer to durability during any given use, while long-term durability is meant to refer to durability over time or repeated use. As for short-term durability, since the personal umbrella is often used in the rain and the rain is often accompanied by wind, it is important for such an umbrella to be strong enough not to be turned inside out by powerful gusts of wind. As for long-term durability, it is desired that an umbrella remain functional for a long period of time, despite the wear and tear on the structure and the mechanism, due to repeated stress during use (e.g., from the wind) and to repeated opening and closing. Inasmuch as existing umbrellas suffer from limited durability, both short-term and long-term, there is a need for a more durable umbrella.
Second, while an umbrella should be easy to operate, i.e. to open and close, conventional umbrellas are often troublesome in this regard. Only minimal time, effort and strength should be required to open and close an umbrella. This is a matter not only of convenience and ease of use but, at least in the case of personal umbrellas, also of the basic sheltering functionality of the umbrella. Simply stated, it is often necessary to open an umbrella quickly to avoid getting wet. For example, it is frequently infeasible to open an umbrella prior to exiting a sheltered location (e.g., a vehicle or a vestibule); the user must wait until he or she is actually out of doors in the rain to open the umbrella. Moreover, the user must often exit the sheltered location and go into the rain quickly (e.g., when alighting a bus). In such situations, opening an umbrella with dispatch may be necessary to avoid getting wet. Conversely, etiquette may require one to close his or her umbrella promptly upon entering a sheltered location from the rain. Failure to do so may cause injury or inconvenience (e.g., getting wet) to other individuals and/or damage to vulnerable objects (e.g., carpets, furniture) and, in any event, is likely to be deemed impolite. Thus, the ability to close an umbrella easily and promptly is also socially and practically advantageous. However, many umbrellas are not capable of being opened and closed with sufficient ease and speed.
One attempted solution to this problem in the prior art has been the provision of an automatic opening and/or closing means, e.g., operated by a push button. Such a mechanism is often seen on personal umbrellas, but is not generally provided on large-scale (e.g., beach or café table) umbrellas. While such a mechanism may reduce the effort required of the user, the mechanism may not open or close the umbrella with the speed required for the above-described situations. In addition, such automatic mechanisms may be prone to malfunction or breakage, especially with repeated use. Repair services are unlikely to be available for such problems, and even if they were available, the relative costs of repair and purchase of a new umbrella would tend to rule out repair as a reasonable option. Thus, an otherwise functional umbrella may be rendered unusable on account of a failed automatic opening/closing mechanism. Finally, of course, such automatic mechanisms increase the complexity and cost of manufacture of the umbrella and hence the price for the consumer. Accordingly, there is a need for an umbrella that can be manually opened and closed with sufficient ease and speed as to render an automatic mechanism unnecessary.
It is noted that the matter of opening and closing large-scale umbrellas presents some issues different from those pertaining to personal umbrellas. Large-scale umbrellas, which are much larger and heavier than personal umbrellas in view of their function of protecting more than a single individual, are generally considerably more difficult and time-consuming to open and close than personal umbrellas. As there is generally a less pressing need to open and close these umbrellas with speed, the difficulty of operation is likely to loom larger as an inconvenience than the length of time required to open and close these umbrellas. Because of the sheer bulk of such umbrellas, mechanisms for automatically opening and closing them have generally not been provided, presumably because they would have to be so complex and powerful as to be prohibitive in terms of cost. However, in view of the difficulty of operation, manual assist mechanisms are commonly provided for table umbrellas although less frequently for beach umbrellas. A typical such manual assist mechanism is a pulley mechanism whereby the user rotates a crank handle to open and close the umbrella. In view of the size and weight of large-scale umbrellas, it will be appreciated that even with a manual assist mechanism, manual operation thereof will still be much more difficult and time-consuming than is the case for a personal umbrella. Thus, even though time may not be of the essence, a reduction in the amount of time required to operate the umbrella would still be beneficial.
Of course, manual assist mechanisms, like the automatic mechanisms described above, subject the umbrella to additional risk of malfunction and breakage. In addition, they increase the complexity and cost of manufacture, and hence the price for the consumer.
In the case of a stationary umbrella lacking a manual assist mechanism, e.g., a beach umbrella, it can be particularly difficult to open and close the umbrella on account of its height, as will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1A-1D and 2. As shown in those figures, a conventional umbrella includes a staff 3, a ring 4 slidingly mounted thereon, upper ribs 5, lower ribs 6 and a canopy 7, appropriately interconnected. (The terms “up,” “down,” “top,” “bottom,” “horizontal,” “vertical,” and the like are used throughout this application, in discussion of both the prior art and the present invention, with reference to the orientation of an umbrella in normal use, i.e., the umbrella being in its opened state and being used to protect a user from rain, sun, etc. Thus, in normal use, the staff would be disposed in a (substantially) upright or vertical position and the canopy would be located at or near the top of the umbrella. To open the conventional umbrella, ring 4 is pushed upward from a position near the bottom of the umbrella (as shown in dashed outline in FIG. 1B) to a position near the top of the umbrella (as shown in FIG. 1B); to close the umbrella, ring 4 is pulled downward from the position near the top of the umbrella (as shown in dashed outline in FIG. 1D) to the position near the bottom of the umbrella (as shown in FIG. 1D). Thus, in order to open or close the umbrella, it is necessary to reach up toward the top of the umbrella, either to raise ring 4 toward the top or to grasp ring 4 from the top to lower it toward the bottom. Because of the height of an umbrella such as a beach umbrella, however, it can be difficult to reach as high as is required (see FIG. 2). While this difficulty may exist even in a large personal umbrella, it can be particularly acute in the case of a large-scale umbrella lacking a manual assist mechanism. Accordingly, there is a need for a more convenient mechanism of opening and closing such umbrellas. (A fuller description of the structure and operation of the prior art umbrella, as contrasted with the umbrella of the present invention, is provided below in the “Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments.”)
Beyond durability and convenience (ease, speed) of operation, a third challenge for conventional umbrellas is providing ample headroom. This problem pertains particularly to personal umbrellas. As shown, e.g., in FIGS. 1A and 1B, in the conventional personal umbrella canopy 7 is attached to upper ribs 5 on the upper side thereof, and lower ribs 6 are provided to support upper ribs 7 from below. The provision of lower ribs 6 below canopy 7, however, reduces the amount of headroom available to the user (see FIG. 3). In this regard, it may be noted that increasing the height of the umbrella by increasing the length of the staff 3 is not a desirable solution to the problem of inadequate headroom. First, increasing the length of the staff is likely to bring about the problem described above, namely, to make the umbrella difficult to operate because of the great reach required to raise and lower the ring 4 to open and close the umbrella. Second, the user may often want to bring the canopy close to his or her head in order to increase the scope of coverage provided to the user. Increasing the length of the staff would run counter to the user's purpose in this respect, by raising the canopy further away from the head and making it harder or impossible for the user to bring the canopy as close to the head as desired. Accordingly, there is a need for an alternative design of an umbrella that affords increased headroom.
As it is desired to maximize headroom, or the usable space or volume under the umbrella, when in use, so, conversely, it is desired to minimize the space taken up by the umbrella when not in use. That is, the umbrella should be as compact as possible for portability and storage. This presents a fourth problem for conventional umbrellas, again particularly for personal umbrellas. While the prior art has aimed to solve this problem by simply making personal umbrellas in smaller sizes, such overall size reductions also adversely affect the sheltering functionality of the umbrella. That is, in use, a reduced-size umbrella provides a smaller scope of coverage. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a design that makes an umbrella more compact when closed but does not reduce the size of the umbrella when opened.
Since, as discussed, umbrellas suffer from a lack of durability, and indeed this problem may not be able to be solved completely, it would be desirable if it were easy to repair an umbrella, e.g., to replace broken or worn-out parts. The conventional umbrella is often designed poorly in this regard, and accordingly this constitutes a fifth problem for the conventional umbrella. For example, the canopy is often sewn to the upper ribs, precluding easy replacement thereof. In addition, the ribs are often connected to the staff and ring and to each other in a permanent manner, rendering it infeasible to replace one rib at a time. In short, prior art umbrellas are frequently designed so as not be able to be repaired. Consequently, even if only a small part of the umbrella is broken or not functioning, the entire umbrella must be discarded and a new umbrella purchased. Thus, consumers find themselves purchasing new umbrellas at too frequent intervals. Accordingly, there is a need for an umbrella that can be easily repaired, e.g., whose individual parts can be easily replaced.
Sixth, it would be advantageous to simplify the manufacture and reduce the cost of production of umbrellas. As discussed above, some of the attempted solutions to problems in the prior art, e.g., automatic and manual assist operating mechanisms, have complicated manufacture and increased the cost thereof. There is a need, therefore, for alternative solutions to problems in the art, which solve the problems by simplifying rather than complicating the umbrella design. An example of a simpler design would be a design which solves a problem without increasing the number of components of the umbrella (or which achieves the level of functionality of the current state of the art while reducing the number of components). An umbrella that both solves a problem and reduces the number of components would be highly advantageous. Such simpler designs would serve not only to simplify and reduce the cost of manufacture, but also to improve durability and facilitate repair, since fewer components means fewer potential sources of malfunction and breakage.
In addition to serving their basic sheltering function, umbrellas also serve aesthetic and other (e.g., commercial) purposes. Thus, the individual consumer often chooses an umbrella based on the same kind of considerations involved in selecting a piece of apparel, and the umbrella may even be intended to make a fashion statement. Umbrellas designed for use by corporate or other institutional entities, e.g., an outdoor café or a beach umbrella rental outlet, are selected not only with such aesthetic considerations in mind. The café, for example, may be concerned that its outdoor table umbrellas include images, text, logos or the like that establish or maintain its institutional or corporate identity, establish or maintain its intellectual property rights in trademark, or serve as a marketing tool to attract customers who might otherwise overlook or pass by the establishment.
Accordingly, a seventh area of improvement for conventional umbrellas is the accommodation of individual taste as to the aesthetic and visual aspects (appearance) of the umbrella, most significantly the canopy thereof. Permitting the individual consumer to design the canopy of the umbrella, and affording a wide range of design choices to that end, would be desirable. Permitting the user to redesign the canopy at will over time would be still more desirable. (It may be noted that designing an umbrella so that the canopy is easily replaceable will not only help accommodate individual taste but also facilitate repair of the umbrella.)